00:00:05
As a career detective, this case is very unique. Little did I know that this would lead
00:00:12
to one of the most fascinating cold case homicides that I'd ever been a part of.
00:00:18
How did this case begin for you? So, on December 3rd of 2017, the Sheriff's Department received a 911
00:00:26
call from a homeowner reporting that their family dog brought back a human skull.
00:00:34
It came back with a human skull. Yes. And it had an obvious gunshot wound to the
00:00:43
back of the head. We kind of organized a grid search and within minutes located the clandestine grave right up in this
00:00:52
area. So, Peter, this is the area right up here. All right. I'll follow you. Now, this is quite a thicket, isn't it?
00:01:03
It's a little thicket. If you see this a little indentation in the soil right here, that's where the
00:01:09
skeletal remains were found. We had a very circumstantial case. We literally have human bones, human
00:01:17
remains uh with a gunshot wound to the head. And at that point, is this a murder? Is this
00:01:23
a suicide? We have a model of a human skull. Can you show us where that wound was? It's pretty much uh towards the
00:01:30
back rear of the skull. When you look at these scattered bones, [music] are they telling you a story?
00:01:38
Yes, it tells me that it's most likely the story of murder. We were reviewing missing persons cases
00:01:45
throughout the Midwest, but nothing was definitive to who this victim was. When the cases come to the DNA Doe
00:01:56
Project, everything's already been exhausted. >> [music] >> Genetic genealogy is the last resort.
00:02:02
So, we use the DNA to look at the matches. And we can build family trees that way and figure out the identities
00:02:10
of people. In this case, [music] that person is Gary Albert Herpst. The victim, Gary, was from Scott County,
00:02:21
Minnesota. [music] We located the home where Gary had last lived. Some of the neighbors who still lived in
00:02:31
the neighborhood had reported some remembering some [music] activity uh back in 2013 that they found
00:02:39
suspicious. It's pouring down rain. It's probably 11:30 at night. Pitch [music] black
00:02:46
dark. Something catches your eye across at the Herpst house. Chad, what do you see? I
00:02:52
see the neighbors scrubbing the floors. I see them scrubbing the walls. We saw them bringing out black garbage
00:02:59
bags. They eventually brought out a rolled-up carpet. I didn't know what I was looking at. I
00:03:05
had no idea. And I turned to Chad and I was like, what is going on? And [music] Chad looked at me and he
00:03:14
said, "Kaya, I think they finally killed him."